The field of this invention relates to devices for automatically opening and closing of a gate.
The use of gates in conjunction with fences has long been known. A common location of use is within rural areas such as on a farm or a ranch. It is most common that when a need arises to open the gate, generally the person requiring that the gate be opened is located within some type of vehicle such as a truck or a piece of farm equipment. The common procedure is for the individual to stop the vehicle and remove himself from the vehicle in order to open the gate. Then the individual must get back into the vehicle and move the vehicle a few feet through the gate. Then the individual must again disembark from the vehicle and relatch the gate and then the individual gets back into the vehicle and continues on his or her way.
It is common for a rancher or farmer to be required to open and close several gates each and every day. As a result, a substantial amount of time can be lost in the opening and closing of gates. This time could certainly be better utilized in conjunction with the individual's normal work of farming and ranching.
Within recent years, the farmer or rancher has been able to purchase an automatic gate opening apparatus. This gate opening apparatus can be operated by a manual switch located some spaced distance from the gate, or can be operated by either an emitted sound wave or radio wave. Switching systems can be by a push button operated switch, a card, a key or a digital entry system which requires the entry of a certain numerical combination.
Previously, the automatic operating of such a gate has been through the use of electrical power. Electrical power requires a source of electrical energy. Because such gates are commonly located in locations far from electrically conducting cables, some other type of source of electrical energy is required other than conventional line electrical current.
A common type of electrical source would be one or more batteries. With the automatic gate openers of the prior art, it has been common that only after a few openings and closings of the gate, the batteries need to be recharged. To avoid this recharging procedure, it has been common to install in connection with the batteries a solar powered recharging device whose function is to recharge the batteries during the time that the gate is not being used. However, within the prior art, even after one hundred fifty to two hundred openings and closings of a solar charged gate, the batteries will still require a separate recharging procedure.
There is a need to construct a gate which uses a minimal amount of energy during the opening and closing of a gate so that a substantial increased number of gate openings and closings is achieved through the use of the batteries mounted in conjunction with the gate and also so that the solar charging device is able to recharge the batteries without the use of further additional separate chargings.